\t The Daily
Collegian
Published independently by students at Penn State
Lab explosion
closes building
By Casey McDermott
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
A chemical spill in an unattend
ed room sparked a small explo
sion inside the Materials
Research Lab (MRL) Monday
morning, prompting a two-hour
evacuation of the building.
Inside the second-floor labora
tory of Craig Grimes, two liquids
came in contact with one another
and sparked the reaction at about
11:30 a.m., Penn State spokes
woman Jill Shockey said. One bot-
Dem.
talks
issues
By Katrina Wehr
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Democratic gubernatorial
candidate Dan Onorato pitched
his ideas for keeping higher edu
cation affordable at the Penn
State Grassroots Network
Education Forum Monday after
noon.
In collaboration with the
Commonwealth Campus
Student Government, Graduate
Student Association and with
the support of the University
Park Undergraduate
Association, the Grassroots
Network hosted a discussion
about issues of higher educa
tion.
“We were looking for open
conversation and dialogue about
higher education issues in a
higher education setting," said
Alan Janesch, director of the
Grassroots Network.
Republican gubernatorial
candidate Tom Corbett was also
invited to participate in the
event, but was unable to attend,
Janesch said.
The program began with
CCSG member DJ Ryan talking
to the audience about Penn
State's status as Pennsylvania’s
only land grant university and
the benefits of such a status.
“Penn State's land grant mis
sion is alive and well, both here
and across the Commonwealth
Campuses" Ryan (senior-com
munication arts and sciences)
said.
Ryan also talked about shrink
ing state appropriations and the
federal stimulus package Penn
State receives, which ends this
year.
Onorato, Class of 1983, then
gave the audience a quick
overview of his plans for keeping
higher education affordable and
accessible for Pennsylvania's
students before taking questions
from the audience.
His ideas included revamping
the Pennsylvania Higher
Education Assistance Agency to
make sure every dollar going
into the agency is going back
into grants to help students,
Onorato said.
See ONORATO. Page 2.
■■■lf
• - - * *
(,t K
Tyler Sizemore/Collegian
Gubernatorial candidate Dan
Onorato speaks about higher
education Monday afternoon.
tie contained a mixture of nitric
and sulfuric acid, and the other
was a mixture of ethylene glycol
and ammonium chloride, Shockey
said.
No injuries were reported and
the spill’s damage was minimal,
only amounting to some broken
glass and spilled liquids, Shockey
said. But as a precaution, the
building was evacuated and the
adjacent Hastings Road was tem
porarily closed off, she said.
While sitting in his office just
around the comer from the lab
A KNIGHT’S TALE
Venkatesh Krishnan'Collegian
David Frister (junior-mechanical and nuclear engineering) and Brad Winters battle in full knight cos
tume on the HUB-Robeson Center lawn on a balmy Monday afternoon. They are members of the Society
for Creative Anachronism.
SJP listed as ‘anti-Israel’
By Aiyssa Bender
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
The Anti-Defamation League
ranked Students for Justice in
Palestine the ninth most influen
tial anti-Israel organization in the
U.S but leaders from Penn
State’s chapter of SJP disagree
with the ranking.
“It's wrong,” said Heather
Qader, president of Penn State’s
chapter of SJP
“We re here to put aware
Conklin shaped by Centre Region roots
By Katrina Wehr
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
If someone asked Scott Conklin
in high school what he wanted on
his tombstone, his answer would
be far from what it is now.
As a student at Philipsburg
Osceola Senior High School, Scott
Conklin never imagined he would
become involved in politics.
“When I was in high school, pol
itics was the farthest thing from
my mind,” Conklin said.
He came from a lower middle
class family, he said. His mother
worked as a night custodian for
the school, and cleaned at the
area hospital during the day.
Small chemical explosion
The Materials Research Lab was evacuated and Hastings Road was closed
between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Monday.
Source: cai
room, Lucas Witmer said he was Witmer (graduate-energy and
within earshot of the small explo- mineral engineering) said. “It was
“It sounded like someone ‘swoosh.’ "
dropped a large bucket of water Within a matter of seconds,
from four to five feet up in the air," See EXPLOSION. Page 2.
ness out. There’s no hate.
The ADL, an organization that
fights anti-Semitism worldwide,
describes this list as “groups
[that] demonize Israel through
various public campaigns.”
The ADLs list was compiled
using a variety of factors, includ
ing organizing anti-Israel rallies
quickly, utilizing social network
ing sites effectively to broaden
membership and bringing in
speakers on anti-Israel subject
matter, said Adina Hoizman, an
Conklin's father ran a bread
route before getting into carpen
try, and Conklin followed in his
father’s footsteps after gradua
tion. He attended Clearfield
County Career and Technology
Center for carpentry, and later
went back to become a licensed
air conditioning technician.
He was working in the con
struction business when he heard
a program on the radio with peo
ple talking about what they want
ed on their tombstones, what they
wanted to be remembered for
after their lives were over.
“Before I knew it, I started run
ning for office,” Conklin said. “I
See CONKLIN, Page 2.
Research
Sandra Fung/Collegian
like a loud 'thud’ and then a
analyst in ADLs Center on
Extremism.
“We thought SJP was a very
important group to include
because of its significant pres
ence in colleges around the coun
try," she said.
Qader (senior-international
politics) said SJP primarily
works to educate the public to
promote human rights through
speakers, demonstrations, and
protests sometimes using a
See STUDENTS, Page 2.
Scott Conklin answers questions during a press conference in March
iarship | Matert Display!!
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Student E^ljlslofe
psucollegian.com
@dailycollegian
Pres,
set to
meet
club
Eco-Action
to fight coal
By Paul McMullen
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Three weeks ago, Eco-Action
marched across campus to pro
mote sustainability. Today, the
group continues that march into
Penn State President Graham
Spanier's office
to fine-tune the
university's plan
to become car-
bon-neutral.
Members of
Eco-Action, the
oldest environ-
mental group on
will Spanier
campus.
Spanier and other high-ranking
administrators today at 2:00 p.m.
During the meeting, they will
request that the university shut
down its coal plant and commit
to a plan which will transition to
using 100 percent renewable
energy on campus, said Chris
Tutolo (sophomore-journalism),
Eco-Action public relations offi
cer.
"President Spanier has a
choice he can make Penn
State a nationwide leader in
renewable energy use or he can
continue to use old. dirty ener
gy,” he said. "Either decision
will affect the student body and
the environment for decades to
come.”
Spanier granted the meeting
after Eco-Action marched from
the West Campus Steam Plant to
Old Main to deliver a petition
that urged the university to
become more sustainable.
The petition was signed by a
number of student groups. State
College Mayor Elizabeth
Goreham, university officials
and internationally renowned
environmentalist Bill McKibben.
Eco-Action members believe
a major step the university can
take toward becoming more sus
tainable is to close the on-cam
pus coal plant.
The plant, w'hich has been an
energy source for 270 buildings
for almost 80 years, would cost
roughly $2OO million to entirely
convert to clean energy. Penn
State spokeswoman Lisa
Powers said.
“We recognize that there is a
lot of common ground on this
issue and decisions on major
investments such as an upgrade
of the West Campus Steam Plant
are complex." she said. “The
See ECO-ACTION. Page 2.
Peter Tesoriero/Collegian